Plett property back in demand as sales go up
A BUSY summer has topped off a very active year for property professionals in the prime coastal town of Plettenberg Bay according to local agent Kevin Engelsman.
He said the last year had been one of the best since the 2007/8 downturn and they had seen most of the surplus properties on the market sell, resulting in stock shortages almost across the board including at the top, R10-million plus end of the market.
For the first time since pre-2007, we are now in a sellers’ market, says Engelsman. Momentum has been building over the last two years with buyers returning in their numbers to the market. From a Seeff perspective, sales were up by 14% for the second successive year, reflective of a market in a good position.
Market activity has improved demonstrably from its low 2008 post-boom levels, says Engelsman. Last year, a total of 254 properties sold to the value of R603-million.
This activity is also 30% up on the 196 units sold in 2008 and some 48% more than the R408-million generated in that year.
Significant too, is that the average price for the town increased in 2013 and 2014 by 22% from R1.955-million to R2.377-million.
In terms of the most popular price band, Engelsman says that it still falls under R2.5-million making up about 40% of all sales over the last year while a further 25% of sales activity ranged to about the R7.5-million price mark. Four top-end sales at an average price of R24.375-million were also recorded for the year.
Engelsman says that demand has come from a wide range of buyers. About 25 were local residential buyers and the remainder, hol- iday home and investment buyers from Johannesburg and Cape Town (60%) as well as a return of foreign buyers (10%), mostly from the UK and Europe.
Sellers have also become more realistic in their expectations resulting in well-priced homes selling rapidly and given that demand now outstrips supply.
Plett is arguably one of the most popular holiday spots in the country. Fronted by Blue Flag beaches and with the Keurbooms River that runs adjacent to the town.
With regular CEM flights now in place between Plett and Cape Town and between Plett and Johannesburg this has made visiting Plett more accessible.
Prices of houses start at around R1.5-million for an older home, but range up to well above R20-million to around R45-million for a luxury beach house.
The most expensive houses are found in the Beachy Head Drive area where prices start at around R18-million. Engelsman says that he is not surprised that buyers have continued investing in the town despite what is still very subdued economic conditions.
An analysis of property sales over the last few years shows that sellers have achieved a return on their investment of 15% on average over a nine-year period, above the inflation rate of around 6% in 2014.